Bradley C. Gregory, «Slips of the Tongue in the Speech Ethics of Ben Sira», Vol. 93 (2012) 321-339
This article examines the references to slips of the tongue in the speech ethics of Ben Sira. Against the background of Proverbs, this characterization of accidental speech errors represents a new development. Its origin can be traced to the confluence between sapiential metaphors for mistakes in life and the idea of a slip of the tongue in the Hellenistic world. Ben Sira’s references to slips of the tongue are generally coordinated with a lack of discipline, though at least two verses seem to suggest that slips are not always sinful and that they represent a universal phenomenon, found even among the wisest sages.
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SLIPS OF THE TONGUE IN THE SPEECH ETHICS OF BEN SIRA
The second line is explainable from the context in Proverbs,
where the behavior described in 6,12-15 is followed by an assurance
in 6,16-19 that God hates such things, but it is difficult not to see the
comment in the first line (which is not reflected in Prov 6) as having
arisen from personal experience 37. This suspicion seems to be con-
firmed at the very end of the book when Ben Sira offers a prayer of
thanksgiving to God. Near the beginning of the prayer he says:
You have delivered me from the slanderous tongue
and from lips of lying miscreants
from malicious lips, slimy deceivers
arrows sped by treacherous tongues (51,2d-3.5b-6a) 38
There is no love lost between Ben Sira and his opponents whom
he pictures as having slandered him by twisting his words after hav-
ing spoken sweetly to his face. Against this background of personal
experience his advice in 28,24-26 makes perfect sense. A slight slip
of the tongue, even if not being sinful in content, can have disas-
trous consequences and therefore the utmost discipline is required
for the sake of self-protection. Yet, while it is best not to give one’s
enemies words that might be twisted around, Ben Sira appears con-
vinced that in the event that one is slandered it will not be the last
word. Eventually God will deliver the godly from the sinful speech
of their enemies and will vindicate them before all.
* *
*
Let us now draw together the salient points of our discussion. The
first thing to observe is that all of Ben Sira’s references to a slip of the
tongue reveal a concern for the serious social ramifications such slips
can have. They are all of substantive nature rather than some of the
errors we commonly label as slips of the tongue. He is not talking
about malapropisms, phonetic confusions, or even humorous and ba-
37
Cf. “I hate three kinds of people, and I loathe their manner of life: a
pauper who boasts, a rich person who lies, and an old fool who commits adul-
tery†(Sir 25,2 NRSV).
38
This wonderfully colorful translation is from SKEHAN – DI LELLA, The
Wisdom of Ben Sira, 560.
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